Celebrate The Earth

Let us cooperate with the earth as it continues to release beautiful substances necessary for our existence and continuous survival. Let us appreciate the beauty of this earth. Appreciate nature through the trees, the green vegetations, flowers, the crops that we feed on, the elements including the seas, the water beds in every form, the living creatures – human beings and animals, the air that we breathe in and our freewill to live in every habitable part of the world. The environment is witnessing an induced stress from the activities of the people of the world.

There are so many industrial activities causing huge pollution in the atmosphere. Many proponents for the protection of the earth are of the view that this heavy pollution could indeed lead to greenhouse effect (responsible for gas emission and higher temperatures) and degradation of the earth surface or negatively impact the nutrients we are supposed to enjoy from the earth. Activities in the oil and gas industries especially oil spillage in some seas due to offshore drilling works have contaminated water around these activities and have even led to the death of many sea creatures as well as constituted health hazards to the communities living close to the areas of operations whose livelihood depends on fishing or trawling. As we continue to enjoy fresh air and drink clean water, we should remember the earth needs to replenish its resources and we all have a part to play to make it happen. Choose to reduce the consumption of energy and conserve energy that is being generated.

Our planet is in dire strait. Too much pollution, greenhouse effect, melting ice bergs in the Antarctica, extreme weather conditions, rising oceans water, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, too many natural disasters to count and contend with. There are hundreds of natural disasters recorded across the world annually including hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, flooding, cyclones, blizzards, with the majority of the disasters recorded in the Asian Pacific region in 2019. Many countries close to the oceans or island countries usually suffer similar fate every year.

A lot of things are happening on the earth and different calls are made daily on the need to care for the earth. Countries across the world are expected to work in concert and seriously gear up to arrest the unfolding degradation the earth is constantly subjected to. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown in activities and stay at home directives, it appears the earth is resting a bit as a result of the reduced human and heavy industrial actions coupled with reduced air pollution from motor vehicles as well as airplanes.

However, urgent steps are required to curtail environmental degradation, pollution, earth warming and equally invest in infrastructure and take the necessary measures towards preserving the earth and protecting our environment. If we want successive generations to have a wonderful place to inhabit without threat to their existence, now is the time to begin to embark on conscious and responsible living. There are quite a number of animals that needs to be saved from extinction. From birds to mammals, there is a great need to save these creatures especially from predatory activities of human poachers. Intensive pressure on the earth through pollution, industrial activities and change in climate are responsible for the destruction of the natural habitat of these animals making it difficult for them to procreate and discover food that will ensure their survival.

We can grow more trees to combat deforestation and prevent erosion. More trees are required to be grown annually as a result of the increasing activities of loggers for the production of lumber for building houses (as well as for other uses) and paper. In the world where everything is going virtual, we can choose to go paperless by having our information or materials in electronic format. We should use less of plastics and papers but preferably use more of recyclable materials. Many discarded plastics have been found to clog many drainages, rivers or streams thereby leading to flooding in some localities. A number of these plastics have also been discarded along shorelines which have crept into oceans thereby killing marine animals. Conserve fresh water especially in our homes and other places of heavy usage, use conservatory methods to treat the sewage waste without polluting the water beds. By conserving water, we can reduce millions of gallons of water that are wasted every day. Farmers are equally encouraged to use less quantities of pesticide to control the outcome of their farm produce because of the harmful nature on insects such as bees (for cross pollination) as well as the health of the farmlands.

April 22^nd is usually celebrated as Earth day since the last 50 years. As the earth is celebrated on a particular day, let us consciously celebrate the earth and our existence on the earth on a daily basis. Let us not put the beauty of the earth in jeopardy. In our generation and during our lifetime, let it be affirmed that the earth was a much better place to live in.